Yesterday, 17 November, the municipal website of the Portuguese city of Braga was glad to announce the acquisition of new garden and greenery maintenance equipment, which will replace the much-depreciated previous lawnmowers that had been in service for more than a decade.
The equipment in question consists of ten garden tractors (with and without grass collection capabilities) and six lawnmowers for a total cost of around 170 000 euros.
Municipal services should continuously appraise the environmental benefit of new equipment
The new devices will form part of the fleet at the service of the Municipal Division of Gardens and Green Spaces in Braga. It is expected that, apart from modernization, they will provide much better operability, sustainability and efficiency in the work of the gardening workforce.
Although lawn equipment might not seem like it would have much impact on the municipal ledgers or the urban environment, the reality is that every bit counts and it is through such small yet consistent and well thought out steps, administrations will be able to achieve results and changes in attitude.
And these lawn tractors are a good example. For one, the purchase of new machinery ends up costing less than the continuous maintenance of old and worn-out equipment.
Not to mention that the new tractors add real value and efficiency to the work of the park and greeneries officials. These tractors are designed to mulch the grass, rather than clip it as the common practice until now has dictated.
The benefits of mulching are various. On one hand, pulverizing the grass means that it saves time and effort for the workers since they will not have to go once again over the course to collect all the cut grass and then deliver it to a landfill.
On the other hand, this also means more environmentally oriented practices, since the mulched grass is left to replenish the lawns organically and it also means fewer vehicle trips to deliver grass cuttings to compost sites or landfills.
Source: TheMayor.EU
